The Awful Truth About The Powerpuff Girls
by icekings
Summary: Blossom learns a horrible secret.


THE AWFUL TRUTH ABOUT THE POWERPUFF GIRLS

BY ICEKINGS2000

ONE

Ms. Keane, kindergarten teacher at Pokey Oaks School, was sitting at her desk.

"Now, class, before we begin art for today, I need to remind you that your extra credit projects are due in two weeks."

Blossom smiled and thought to herself "One more taping session with Ms. Bellum and then all I have to do is type the interview on the computer and I'm done!"

She looked at her sisters Buttercup and Bubbles and wondered what they were working on. Bubbles was drawing something, no doubt. With Buttercup, the only thing you knew was that she would wait until the last minute and then have to scramble to finish it. 

It wasn't Blossom's fault. She HAD suggested doing theirs together, and Ms. Keane had okayed the idea. But no, Buttercup, mostly, had insisted they each do their own. 

Blossom redirected her attention on Ms. Keane, who was approaching the blackboard. The teacher began to write something.

"Okay, class, our art subject for today is going to-"

"Ms. Keane!" Bubbles suddenly shouted. "Buttercup is shootin' spitballs at me!"

"Am not, ya' big fat liar!" Buttercup yelled back.

Ms. Keane frowned. "Buttercup! Are you throwing spitballs at your sister?"

"No!"

"Look, Ms. Keane!" Bubbles held out a small, wet wad of paper. 

Ms. Keane spotted a plastic straw lying on the floor near Buttercup's seat. She walked over and picked it up. She drilled her eyes directly into Buttercup's.

"Throwing things is bad enough, but lying is worse!"

"But, I'm not lyin'" Buttercup protested. "She said I was shootin' spitballs but I only shot one!"

The room exploded in laughter, with the exception of the three Powerpuffs and Ms. Keane; although a grin began to spread over Buttercup's face. It didn't last long.

"BUTTERCUP!" 

The force of Ms. Keane's shout and her red face shut the children up immediately, and Buttercup knew what was coming. She hung her head and floated out of her seat, heading for the 'time out' corner.

"Sit down." the teacher ordered. "No time out this time."

Buttercup sat.

"Young lady, you and I are going to have a little talk after school."

She turned and strode to the front of the room.

"Ooooooooo" a few of the kids reacted to the dreaded punishment.

Ms. Keane quickly put the incident behind them. 

"That's enough. Now, let's get back to work, shall we?"

TWO

Blossom and Bubbles took the bus home without their sister. When they came through the front door, Professor Utonium looked up from a science journal he was reading while sitting on the couch.

"Oh, hi, Girls! How was school today?"

Blossom hesitated. "Uh..."

"Blossom, where's Buttercup?" He set the magazine down and stood. "Girls, where's your sister?"

"Ms. Keane wanted to talk to her after school." Bubbles said.

"Now what? And why didn't you wait for her?"

Blossom answered "Professor, Buttercup is being punished for something she did in class. It isn't fair if we have to stay, too!"

"Hmmm. You're right, Blossom, it's not. I think Buttercup and I will be having a little talk ourselves. You Girls go put your stuff away; she should be here soon. Then you can help me get dinner started."

They went up to their room and dropped their book bags on the floor. Bubbles flopped on the bed, and just as Blossom started to pull something out of her book bag, they heard a loud crash from downstairs. It was Buttercup blasting through the front door and she was screaming.

"Professor!"

The two of them were out the door of their room and down the stairs in a flash. Professor was holding their crying sister.

"Now, calm down, Buttercup, I'll make it all better."

Blossom looked at them in horror. Buttercup was clutching her left arm with her right; as it hung uselessly at her side. The left shoulder and sleeve of her dress, and her entire left arm, were soaked red.

Blossom flew to her badly injured sibling.

"Get away from me!" Buttercup shrieked.

Professor said, calmly "It just looks worse than it really is, Blossom. I'm sure it's only a small cut. Now, you and Bubbles go start on dinner."

With that, he turned and carried Buttercup out of the living room.

"Only a small cut?" Blossom thought. Confused, she said "C'mon, Bubbles" and they headed toward the kitchen. Once there, she turned to her sister. 

"What happened to her? Bubbles, she's hurt really bad and Professor acts like it's nothing!"

Bubbles opened the refrigerator door and rummaged around inside.

"It looks bad, but if Professor says it's nothin', I believe him. She'll be okay. 'Sides, if she didn't throw spitballs at me, it wouldn'ta happened." 

THREE

Professor took Buttercup down to the laboratory. He had a small medical unit prepared for emergencies of this type with the Girls, and he laid her on a gurney. She moaned, and she let go of her injured arm. It fell completely away, severed at the shoulder joint. Her eyes showed momentary shock.

"S-she cut my arm off..she cut it off...she cu..."

She passed out and her head tilted to one side.

He pulled a small spray can out of his lab coat pocket and sprayed the bloody stains on her dress. Then, he picked his daughter's severed arm up from the gurney and moved to a worktable about ten feet away.

"I've got to hurry!"

Professor set the limb down on the table. He took a bottle labeled 'hydrochloric acid' down from a shelf over the table, and poured about half of its contents into a black steel pot. Opening a drawer beneath the table, he pulled out a large meat cleaver; and lining up his spot, chopped the arm in half with one stroke. He dropped the two pieces into the acid and smoke quickly rose from the pot. Then he reached up to the shelf for a large, stoppered flask, labeled 'Chemical X', which was half full of a dark substance. He reached again into the drawer for a wooden spoon and swiftly stirred the contents of the pot until the smoke stopped rising. Then he pulled the stopper from the flask and carefully poured what was now a thick liquid from the pot into the flask, put the stopper back in the flask and replaced it on the shelf. As he was placing the pot into a nearby sink, Buttercup began to moan again.

"She's waking up!" He hurried toward the gurney just as she screamed.

"Professor! My arm! It grew back!"

She was sitting up on the gurney, staring in shock at where her lost appendage had been replaced by a new one, completely normal in all respects. 

He smiled at her. "Honey, you were hallucinating. You had a small cut, I put some of my special cream on it, and your arm is as good as new."

She became angry. "No way! I SAW it fall off! Professor, Ms. Keane went nuts and came at me with a big knife! She got me before I could move and-"

"Buttercup, this is the sedative I gave you talking. If you don't stop, I'm going to have to tie you down!"

"But, I know what I saw!"

He lunged for her and had her arms strapped to the gurney before she knew what happened. Then he strapped her legs down. 

"Suit yourself, Buttercup. You'll never get out of those duranium holds." 

Duranium was too strong for even the Girls to escape from. Buttercup was now terrified.

"Professor, why are you doing this to me? What happened to my arm? Why-"

"Shut up!" he snarled at her. "I'll tell you, not that it will matter to you any!"

At that moment, the wall telephone rang, just a few feet from where he was standing, and he answered it. 

"Hello? Oh, yes, it grew back perfectly again. I'm about to conduct the FINAL test. Wish me luck. Ok, see you later, bye!" 

He hung up. Buttercup didn't like the sound of any of that, and she was sure she knew who he was talking to.

She strained at her bindings. "That was HER, wasn't it? Professor, what happened to you and Ms. Keane? Are you NUTS? And what do you mean my arm grew back perfectly AGAIN? What final test?"

"Well, my little guinea pig" he began coldly, "I told you it wouldn't matter if you know. Between you and the others, your arms and legs have grown back better each time until we've perfected it. Now it's time for the next step."

"What others? You're doin' this to Blossom and Bubbles, too?"

"No, you're Buttercup number four. Unfortunately, we weren't so successful at growing new heads with the first three. But that is about to change."

He pulled a large scalpel from another pocket and advanced toward the gurney.

"AGGGHHHH!" Buttercup passed out from sheer terror.

FOUR

Bubbles was finished peeling the potatoes and they were cooking. Blossom was done with the carrots and celery and was starting on the onions. They would have finished ten minutes ago but Professor insisted they do their kitchen chores as normal children. Bubbles washed her hands and headed out of the kitchen.

"I'm gonna see how Buttercup's doin'. I bet she's OK."

"I hope so. That looked like a lot of blood for a little cut."

FIVE

Professor Utonium was placing the flask of Chemical X back on the shelf once again, only the flask was now nearly full. Bubbles suddenly appeared behind him and he turned around. 

"Oh, Bubbles! You scared me!"

"Sorry. Gee, we have a lot more Chemical X than we had this morning, don't we?" she said, grinning.

"Yes, and I have no idea where it all came from!" he said, grinning back.

Together, they walked over to the gurney. It was completely covered with a white sheet.

Bubbles' hands shot to her mouth. "Oh no! Professor! What went wrong?!"

"Now, Bubbles, let's not jump to any conclusions. Let's take a look, shall we?"

He pulled the sheet back. Buttercup lay there, eyes closed. The bloodstains on her dress were gone. Bubbles looked at Professor, her eyes wide.

"Professor? It worked! Yeesss!" She pumped her fist.

He smiled. "Yes, Bubbles, we knew it would eventually. You were so much easier. Blossom will be the real challenge."

"Yeah" she said. "She could be a real problem. If she finds out before our plans are completed, she could ruin everything! We're gonna have to be real careful."

She looked at her silent sister, lying there.

"Are the brain implants in place?"

"Yes" he answered. "She will have full recollection of her previous life, as well as the knowledge of your Girls' true purpose. Reconciling the two, as you know, should be quite simple. Let's wake her up."

He went to the worktable and opened up a black doctor's bag, removing a hypodermic needle and a vial. He tore off the needle's sanitary covering, injected it through the top of the vial, and filled the chamber. He gave Buttercup a quick shot in her new left arm and her eyes fluttered almost immediately. She opened them fully, shook her head to clear it, and focused on the two people standing a few feet away. She fought against the restraints.

"No! Never! I won't do it! Me an' Blossom'll stop you!"

Bubbles' laugh was like ice. "Oh, yes, dear sister, you WILL help us because now you are just like ME! And soon, Blossom will join us. Then the world will learn the true destiny of... the Powerpuff Girls! Hahahahaha!"

"You're crazy! We're supposed to stop people from tryin' to rule the world, not rule it ourselves!"

Professor smiled. "Ah, yes. What a clever ruse, but its purpose has been served. Once I perfect Blossom, the world won't know what to do when I unleash my army of indestructible Powerpuffs on it!"

Bubbles continued with an evil smile. "Think of it, Buttercup! They can cut our heads clean off and they'll just grow back! And with all the Chemical X we've got saved up, we can make as many of us as we want!"

Buttercup pulled as hard as she could and screamed "NEVERRRRR!"

Professor stared at her. "You really do have no choice in the matter."

He went to the black bag again and pulled out a device that resembled an opthalmoscope, the light a doctor uses to check a person's eyes; and two pair of dark eyeshades. He handed one pair to Bubbles and put the other on himself. Making sure Bubbles had hers on, he held the device up to Buttercup's face. A burst of white light flooded the laboratory and quickly faded. He stuck the light in his pocket, took his glasses off, and taking Bubbles' too, tossed them over to the tabletop. He undid Buttercup's restraints.

She sat up, rubbing her wrists where she'd been held down. The confused look on her face slowly turned into a smile, and she looked back and forth between Professor and Bubbles.

"Whoa! Are you guys serious?"

Bubbles smiled back. "We are dead serious."

Buttercup hopped off the gurney. "All right!"

She tested her new arm, then grabbed the sides of her face and swiveled her neck around. 

"Did I really grow this thing? What'd you do with my old head and my arm?"

Professor began "I dissolved them in acid, leaving behind only a purified form of your Chemical X based components. Each time an experiment 'failed' the supply grew, in both quantity and potency."

"Professor's been giving us Chemical X vitamins, too." Bubbles said.

Buttercup grinned evilly. "Say hello to the new, improved Buttercup! Heh heh! How's it going with Blossom?"

"She needs a bit more work. I have separate supplies of the Chemical X material for each of you, and hers is a bit weak, yet."

"But, I don't get why I don't remember all of the tests."

Professor pulled out the opthalmoscope. "This little baby's adjustable. It can erase either short or long-term memory."

Buttercup was impressed. "Wow! Hey, wait a minute! Where does Ms. Keane fit into this? Man, can she swing a knife!"

Bubbles had been waiting for this, she hopped up and down excitedly.

"She's our Aunt Kay!"

Professor spoke. "Remember how I always told you I was an orphan? I didn't tell you the whole truth. Kay and I were orphaned together, and they split us up. We found each other by accident, a few years before I made you. Your Aunt is every bit as good a scientist as I am, but she was laughed out of the profession and forced to become a teacher. They laughed at both of us, but now, revenge will be ours!"

"Yeah!" Bubbles chimed in, again. "But you gotta remember to keep callin' her Ms. Keane, Buttercup. And we gotta be extra careful around Blossom."

"I'm not worried." Professor told them. "Besides, she'll be like you before much longer. Now, who's hungry? Let's go see what she's doing in the kitchen."

"Hey, I just thought of a new motto!" Buttercup exclaimed.

"What, Buttercup?" Bubbles asked, excitedly.

Buttercup wore a look that would have made HIM nervous.

"Enslaving the world before bedtime!"

SIX

Blossom tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Something about the day's events bothered her, kept picking at her brain. The evening had passed normally enough, they ate dinner and watched Puppet Pals together, just like always. Buttercup had emerged from the lab, just as Professor had promised; good as new. She, and Bubbles too, seemed fired up, energized somehow. Not totally unexpected, though; because Buttercup had seemed very distressed and now she was fine. All that blood and just a little cut...it wouldn't leave her alone. How the heck had Buttercup gotten hurt in the first place? She would have to wait until tomorrow to ask the last person who had seen her, Ms. Keane, what she might know. Buttercup swore she couldn't remember and told Blossom to drop it; she was embarrassed for acting like such a baby.

Well, there was something she could do, right now. She couldn't sleep, so why not? She quietly got out of bed and floated out of the room. She quickly reappeared and went into their bathroom, shut the door and turned the light on.

"I knew I forgot something. I forgot to take my vitamins tonight!"

She found hers, alone in the little container where Professor always left them for her and her sisters, and swallowed them with water. She shut off the light, and floated out of the room again, and went down to the basement lab.

Being extra cautious, she flipped the light switch and looked around the empty laboratory. She got an eerie feeling being in there alone at night and she knew Professor would be furious with her if he caught her. 

"Where do I start? What am I even doing here? I'm making something out of nothing, I should just go back to bed...wait! What happened to the stains on Buttercup's dress? They were gone when she came out!"

She quickly checked every trash container in the lab for some sign of cloth, paper, anything with a trace of blood. She checked the folded sheet on the gurney where she guessed Buttercup had been treated. Nothing. Then she spotted it. On the nearby worktable, was a small aerosol can labeled 'Stain Remover'. Oh, well, so much for that. 

Her eyes swept the lab, looking for something, anything. On a shelf over the same table were assorted bottles and flasks of chemicals. The one marked Chemical X caught her eye, the flask was full nearly to the top. Strange, she had been down there for a minute to ask Professor a question a few days ago and she remembered it being half full. She rose up to it and lifted it, gently pulling the stopper. The odor drove her to replace it in a hurry.

"Whoa, that stinks! It smells kinda like Chemical X, but something's wrong with it. I can't tell him, though, or he'll know I was sneaking around. Hmmm."

She began to look around some more, and was about to give up and go back to bed when the answer hit her. Professor had installed four video cameras, suspended from the ceiling at different locations; for taping his experiments. She floated to the one that gave the best angle of the lab's small medical unit, and checked for a tape inside. Yes! There was one! She removed it and brought it to Professor's desk. She popped it into the small combo TV/VCR on an adjacent bookshelf, and sat on the edge of the desk with the remote. She noted the exact point the tape had stopped so she would return it to the camera that way, and pressed PLAY and REWIND. The images of Professor, Bubbles and Buttercup suddenly coming into the picture, walking backwards toward the medical treatment area, looked odd. But she knew she would see nothing unusual, and she could go to sleep, finally. The three of them talking. Buttercup hopping up onto the gurney and being strapped down. She remembered she was seeing the reverse of actual events, but it was disconcerting just the same. A bright flash of light! What was that? She hit PLAY and watched, then realized Professor was just checking Buttercup's eyes. Must've caught just the right angle to look that bright. She hit REWIND again. Bubbles and Professor talking to Buttercup, who looked distressed. That didn't seem right. Then, Bubbles was gone, Professor was fiddling around with things, she hadn't seen any actual treatment yet. 

"Huh? What's he doing?" 

She hit PLAY and watched him whack something in two and toss it into a pot, and smoke rose from the pot. She hit REWIND, a feeling of dread spreading through her as her mind tried to deny what she thought her eyes were telling her. She hit PLAY one more time, at the point where Professor had just placed Buttercup on the gurney. She sat, mesmerized, the flickering screen casting shadows on her face, reflecting on the growing horror there.

The room began to spin around her, and she grabbed the edge of the desk. Her whole life, her very existence, a lie! Their goodness and innocence, their constant struggle against the evils of the world, all a contrived hoax! Monsters were what they were always intended to be, and she was being transformed into one, with no sense at all that it was happening to her. For her sisters, it was already too late. It probably was for her, too. How many arms and legs had been hacked from her body? Was she Blossom Number Two or Three or Five? And she remembered none of it. What could she do about it? Who would believe her? 

She jumped at something Bubbles said, then she heard "Say hello to the new, improved Buttercup!"

She rewound a bit, and listened to Bubbles repeat "Professor's been giving us Chemical X vitamins, too."

She dropped the remote and flew to the sink, gagging. She continued to gag until the awful Chemical X vitamins she ate before coming down here were gone from her body. She felt herself blacking out, falling, twisting. The sharp pain as her elbow slammed into a corner of the stainless steel sink jolted her awake. It hurt but focused her on what had to be done. Dreading even looking at it, she managed to replay the tape to its original stopping point and put it back in the camera. A quick look around to see that nothing else was out of place, and she got the heck out of there.

SEVEN

She guessed from the moon's position that it was 3 AM or so. It was a very warm night, uncomfortable for sleeping; but as she sat near the edge of a cliff, watching the twinkling lights from faraway Townsville, Blossom shivered. What was she going to do? She had several options, all bad.

First, report what they were doing. To whom? Who would believe her?

"Poor kid flipped! All the pressure of being the leader must've got to her. After all, she's only five!"

Professor would manage to convince the authorities she'd reported him to that she'd be fine. Any head shrinking that needed to be done he could handle. A crazy nervous giggle came from her at her own joke. She could picture the four of them in the lab, like a Lewis Carroll nightmare: Strapped to a gurney, she stared at Professor, dressed in top hat and tails, sharpening two knives against one another; mumbling "I'm late, I'm late...

Watching were Buttercup with her Cheshire cat grin and Queen Bubbles screaming 'Off with her head!'.

She shook her head to clear it. Definitely no good. She stood and stretched, and began to pace. It helped her to think logically.

"Option Two: Act like nothing's wrong. Watch them like a hawk. Search for clues. Act like nothing's wrong. Learn all I can. Avoid the lab at all costs. When the time is right, fight. Yeah, right. Against dozens of Buttercups and Bubbles'? Did I say act like nothing's wrong?"

Another bad idea. She walked to the edge of the cliff and stared down into Option Three: 

Jump.

She stuck one leg out over the abyss and held her arms out to the sides, balancing like a gymnast. It would be so easy. Just close her eyes and let go. Her broken body, if it was ever found, would just add to the Chemical X supply. There would soon be another Blossom, and eventually many more. But it would not be HER. Her last conscious act, futile as it might be, would be to deny the evil creatures that were once her family. If not in actuality, then symbolically, for herself. SHE would not be a part of THEM. She began to weep as the memories flashed before her: All of the joy and laughter, the love they had for one another; the sense of pride and accomplishment their life's mission had given them. The fun times, and the bad times that had always made them stronger and brought them closer together. All of it, lies. She leaned forward, closed her eyes, and she was gone. Seconds later, the quiet of the night was shattered by a blood-curdling scream.

EIGHT

"Bzzzzzt-bzzzzzt-bzzzzzt"

"Blossom, you gonna git that?" Buttercup mumbled and rolled over. She suddenly realized her sister wasn't next to her, and the hotline was still buzzing. She flew from under the covers and grabbed it. Bubbles sat up, mostly asleep yet.

"Hello, Mayor?"

"Powerpuff Girls! There's a monster headed for Townsville! It's destroying the Stony Mountains!"

"We're on it, Mayor!" She slammed the hotline down. "Let's go, Bubbles!"

They were dressed and on their way in a flash.

"Where we goin'? And where's Blossom?" Bubbles worried.

"I don't know where the heck she is, but we don't have time for that, there's a monster attacking the Stony Mountains and-"

They both stopped in mid-flight and stared at each other.

Open mouthed, Bubbles said "That's where she goes when she's upset about somethin'!"

"Yeah, Bubbles! C'mon!"

NINE

Her anger spent, Blossom barely noticed the tons of gravel lying at the base of the cliff she'd jumped from. She had attacked the rock face of the mountain with a vengeance, cursing herself for her weakness. Suicide was not the Powerpuff way. Her mind worked, and she realized her only hope was a combination of options one and two. SHE couldn't convince anyone of the evil that awaited Townsville, but the tape WOULD. That meant she would have to return to the lab, copy the tape and, perhaps, gather other evidence. She would have to move carefully so as to not raise any suspicions. Act like nothing's wrong, indeed. She would have to give the performance of her life.

She was about to head for home, when the bright flashes of her sisters were shown by the moonlight, closely followed by the telltale 'whoosh'. Buttercup was in her face instantly.

"Look at this place! What's wrong with you?! I oughta kick your butt for making us come out here in the middle of the night!"

Blossom reacted with indignation, crossing her arms, staring her sister down.

"Shut up, Buttercup! Know what you're talking about before you accuse someone!"

She went on. "I couldn't figure out how I wanted to do the last part of my project, so I came out here to think. That's when the monster showed up."

She'd certainly made enough of a racket to convince someone of a monster attack, otherwise how would her sisters know to come here?

She finished "And if you two didn't take so long getting here...but as it turns out, I didn't need your help. Now, let's go home."

TEN

Now that Blossom knew their teacher's part in this evil scheme, there was no point in asking her about the knife incident with Buttercup. Not that she could, anyway; Ms. Keane wasn't in class this morning. An older woman stood at the front of the room, her name written on the blackboard.

The substitute spoke. "Ms. Keane will be here after lunch, she had a doctor's appointment this morning."

It was a perfect, sunny day outside. Mitch Mitchelson looked out the window, and said to his classmates in a low voice "Yeah, she's got an appointment with Dr. Seven Iron!" Everyone chuckled, but Blossom.

Buttercup looked at Bubbles. "Yeah, she needs to do something about that wicked slice of hers!"

They both began giggling uncontrollably. Blossom, struggling to not react to the sick joke, was sure she knew where Ms. Keane was, too. Plotting with her brother, the Professor. If there were only some way to spy on them...she raised her arm.

"Yes, Blossom?"

"Teacher, can I go see the nurse? I-I don't feel good!"

Her sisters shot each other a quick look.

"Yes, Blossom, you may be excused."

Without a backward glance, she grabbed her stuff and went straight to the school nurse's office. The nurse quickly situated her on a cot, stuck a thermometer in her mouth, and left her alone briefly. Blossom removed the thermometer and with a mild laser from one eye, heated the mercury to 101 degrees. Enough to get the job done without raising alarm. She put it back in her mouth and the nurse returned less than a minute later.

Blossom chattered her teeth slightly for effect.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I'm comin' down with somthin'. Can I go home?"

The nurse checked the thermometer, then Blossom's eyes and throat. Everything seemed normal but the temperature.

"Well, you're running a fever. Not too bad, but enough that I'm going to excuse you. If you were anyone else, I'd keep you until someone came to get you. Do you promise to go straight home?"

Managing to look as miserable as she could, she said, "Yes. I just wanna go to bed."

"I'll let your teacher know."

Blossom nodded, got up and floated out of the office and to the main door, then made a beeline for home. 

Back in the classroom, the teacher hung up the phone. She looked up.

"Blossom won't be coming back to class."

Buttercup and Bubbles jumped from their seats.

"Can we go home? We need to see how she is!"

"No, the nurse said she should be fine."

"But..."

"No."

"Uh, I don't feel good, too!" Bubbles whined.

The substitute smiled grimly. "Nice try, Bubbles. The answer is still no. Now, let's get back to our spelling, shall we?"

Buttercup and Bubbles were not pleased.

ELEVEN

She was too late! She stayed high enough in the sky to remain unnoticed, and watched Ms. Keane's car backing out of their driveway. As the car moved forward and down the street, Professor stood in the driveway, waving. Then, Blossom caught a break. Instead of turning to go back inside, Professor got into his car, backed out and drove off in the opposite direction. She waited until he was out of sight, then flew in through her bedroom window. 

She dashed down to the lab, not sure of where to begin her search. She knew what was on the tape so she began to look for other clues. Professor had said something about separate batches of Chemical X for each of them.

After checking, and rechecking twice, she gave up in frustration. There was just one flask; it was exactly where she thought she had seen it on the tape, and it was nearly full, just as she remembered. She didn't really know what else to look for...the tape! Ms. Keane had just been there! Was their meeting on it?

Yes it was, and it made her blood run cold. She rewound the tape to the point where it had ended yesterday, and it began from there with Professor sitting at his desk, scribbling on some papers. The sound of increasingly louder footsteps could be heard, and he turned in his chair, then stood with a smile. There was Ms. Keane, coming into view, and she handed Professor something that looked exactly like another video cassette. He took it from her and popped it into the same machine Blossom was now using.

"Good, Kay, I've been waiting to see this!"

The tape was running, and even though recording a video display from a distance resulted in poor picture and sound quality; Blossom was sickened by it. She could hear the raised voices of her sister and Ms. Keane. She thought she heard Buttercup shouting "I don't have to listen to you! I'm outta here!" Then, a silvery flash of the knife blade, Buttercup's shriek of pain, and the video screen seemed to explode in red. Blossom couldn't see much else, but heard the knife clatter to the floor of the schoolroom. Buttercup's screams faded, as she was obviously in flight toward home, not yet aware that her arm had been sliced off. 

"Nice job, I knew you could do it!"

"I HATED doing it. Can't you handle the gross stuff yourself?"

"Kay, I had to know if you could handle the rough stuff if the situation calls for it."

"I know, but why Buttercup? I could do that with Blossom all day long!"

Blossom nearly ran for the sink again, but forced herself to sit and watch.

Keane continued, angrily "In fact, why do we even need Blossom at all? Won't hundreds of the other two be enough to carry out our scheme? Our revenge is so close, dear brother, that I can practically taste it!"

"Don't ever say that about Blossom again!" Professor stormed.

She shrank away from him. His look and tone softened.

"I'm sorry, Kay. Look, I could've simply made them evil, but the world would have turned against us immediately and we would have failed. It HAD to be done in this way. By making them sweet and innocent and heroes, they were accepted. Mojo was a happy accident, providing them with an instant nemesis."

She relaxed, smiling. "Won't HE be surprised!"

He put his hands on her shoulders. "Kay, what we've been dreaming about since we found each other, and the reason I created the Girls in the first place, is at hand. But you must understand that we NEED Blossom. The Powerpuff Girls have always been a team, they aren't nearly as effective when they aren't together. The world may become ours, but Bubbles and Buttercup will be heartbroken if Blossom isn't there at their side when we take it."

"I'm sorry. I'm just afraid she's going to ruin everything."

"We've waited over five years, what's a few more days?"

"Are we really that close?"

"Yes, I expect to put Blossom to the final test very soon."

"Oh, all right. I better get to that cover doctor's appointment I set up."

TWELVE

After Blossom made sure everything was returned to its proper place, she went straight to bed. Now, she really felt ill. Seeing her beloved teacher viciously attack Buttercup; knowing that same teacher hated HER guts and would have been happy to spill them with that same knife...but she didn't really know ANY of these people, did she? Not anymore. She hoped she could be acting normally by the time Professor or her sisters got home, or her illness would be the perfect excuse to get her into the lab. She couldn't let that happen. 

Her racing thoughts wouldn't let her rest. She had to make copies of those tapes before they caught on to her. Sudden resolve shoved aside her fear and she flew out of bed and back downstairs. She quickly replaced the tape in the camera and the one Keane had brought, she found it in Professor's desk drawer; with a couple of cassettes of taped Puppet Pals TV shows, praying Professor wouldn't notice before she got back. Throwing them into her book bag, she cautiously snuck out of the house, and headed off toward Townsville.

THIRTEEN 

Blossom's 'performance' was going well. Two copies safely stored in her book bag and the originals back in place; she was in bed when her sisters got home from school. Professor had gotten home after she did, and unaware she was upstairs in bed, went to his lab. Now, she assumed the Girls had gone straight to see him, because here the three of them were, concerned for her wellbeing. How touching.

"Gee, I guess fighting that monster last night really got to me. I just needed some extra sleep 'cause I feel great, now."

"You sure, Blossom? You had us worried." Buttercup said.

Professor held out his hand. "Blossom, I want you to come to the lab with me. I want to check you over."

"Yeah, Blossom, you've been actin' funny lately!" Bubbles frowned.

She tried not to show her sudden fear. "Oh, no! I think they KNOW! How'm I gonna get out of THIS?"

FOURTEEN

She didn't. Professor insisted she go with him, while he gave Buttercup the OK to order pizza for dinner. After what seemed to her to be not long at all, she was hopping down from the hospital gurney. 

"Blossom, I can't find a thing wrong with you, but you have been acting very strange lately. Is something bothering you?"

"Think fast!" she ordered herself. "Uh, well, I guess I've been worried about my school project a little." 

She lightened up, to throw him off. "Professor? I'm almost done with it. Can I go to the library after we eat? Please?"

She gave him those eyes.

"Oh, all right, but I want you back here by eight!"

"Thanks, Professor!"

She flew straight to the bathroom off her bedroom and closed the door. She was pale and shaking as she felt her arms and looked at her face in the mirror, turning her neck from side to side. What had he done to her down there? She didn't FEEL any different. But then, how would she know? The last thing he did before telling her she could get down was examine her eyes with that instrument. 

Her sisters weren't back with the pizza yet. She hated the thought of sitting down to eat with those monsters, but she had to or make them even more suspicious. She didn't have much time to put her plans into effect, so she ran to the hotline next to the bed. 

Mayor was at the other end. "Powerpuff Girls? Oh, hello, Blossom!"

She whispered "Mayor, is Ms. Bellum there?"

"Bwah, sure, hold on!"

Sara Bellum came on the line. "Hi, Blossom, what's up?"

"Ms. Bellum, I need to see you tonight. It's very important!"

Sara looked at Mayor. "Gee, dear, why didn't you call earlier? I-"

"No, it's not about the interview! I've gotta see you, you're the only one I can trust! Please!"

Blossom wouldn't be making this call if it weren't something serious. Her plans for the evening could wait.

"What time can you be here?" She looked at her watch, it was almost 5 PM.

"Six, but I told Professor I'd be at the library. Can we meet there?"

It was only a few blocks away from Townsville Hall. 

"The library it is."

FIFTEEN

With Blossom gone, Buttercup and Bubbles started cleaning up from dinner. Professor was on the telephone, and he finished and hung up.

"Well?" Buttercup asked.

"Well, she IS at the library, just like she said. But, Girls , I agree with you now; I think she suspects something. After you finish up with that, I want you two in bed."

"Why?" Bubbles demanded.

"So you're rested. I'll come and get you later, I think we should finish this tonight."

Buttercup grinned at Bubbles. "All right! I can't wait!"

SIXTEEN

Blossom had made a second quick call, on a regular phone, after speaking to Sara. She had asked the librarian if a small, private room was available and she and Ms. Bellum were in it now, seated next to each other at a table. Blossom's book bag sat upon it.

Sara looked at her young friend. "Blossom, what is it? Why did you need to see me alone if this isn't your project we're discussing?"

Blossom reached into the bag and removed the two tapes, setting them in front of Sara. 

"You need to see what's on here. It's about Professor, Ms. Keane and my sisters. They don't know I have these."

"Why don't you just tell me what's on them?"

"Actually, they're both the same. I made two copies. And I think you need to see it yourself."

"OK. And after I see them, what do you want me to do?"

"I didn't know who else to turn to! I was hoping you might know who could help us, but we have to hurry!"

"All right, Blossom, I'll watch it."

"Will you promise to do it tonight? Please?"

Kids, they wanted everything yesterday. "Yes, if it's that important to you, I promise."

"Oh, it is! It's important to all of us!"

"Fine." Sara took the tapes and put them into her handbag.

"Now, that didn't take long. If you brought your recorder, we can finish my interview if you want."

Blossom hadn't thought about it, but she did have the machine in her bag. With the burden she'd been carrying now shared, she felt an enormous sense of relief.

"Can we? Great!"

SEVENTEEN

With things now out of her hands, Blossom knew she should let it alone. But two things were eating at her. First, she itched to get away from her sleeping sisters. They looked so angelic and peaceful, but she knew the evil that now lived in their heads and hearts. Second, she was dying to know what Professor had done to her in the lab that afternoon. Her memory of it had been erased by the eye test, she was certain an arm or leg had been removed and had grown back. The answer was on tape, down in the lab; and if she was right, she would find a way to get that to Ms. Bellum, too. She quietly got out of bed.

Her hands were on the ceiling mounted camera, her answer was moments away. The adrenaline rush caused her heart to race, and she had to make sure she didn't make a sound. She pushed the eject button, and froze: there was no tape inside! She closed the compartment and raced to the other cameras. She'd never thought to check any of the others before, because the one she'd been taking the tape from offered the best view of the medical treatment area. The first two were empty. The last one was near the stairs leading out; it offered practically no view of where she'd been that afternoon.

She started to panic. Either Professor hadn't bothered to tape his 'examination' of her, or worse; they were on to her. It was time to get out. She tore for the stairs. Before she even knew it, two flashes came at her from the sides; one blue, one green. They had her; she fought to escape but Buttercup had too good a grip on her right arm. They quickly pinned her against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, Bubbles grinning into her face.

"We gotcha!"

Blossom heard the door open and she looked up. Silhouetted against the light was Professor. He was holding a video cassette in his hand.

"Looking for this?"

He walked down to the bottom, and looked straight at Blossom. With a huge smile, he said "Bring her along, Girls!"

"No!" Blossom screamed. "You can't do this!"

"Your turn, Blossom!" Bubbles giggled.

Buttercup began pulling Blossom away from the wall, with Bubbles pushing. She gave it everything but they were superior to her now. Buttercup sneered into her face.

"So, you think you know the awful truth about the Powerpuff Girls, huh? You ain't seen NOTHIN' yet!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

EIGHTEEN

"Gee, Professor, you do nice work!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"Why, thank you, Bubbles." he answered, as he placed Blossom's neatly severed head into a plastic bucket that Buttercup was holding. Blossom's eyes were peacefully closed and there was very little blood around the cut. 

"Yeah, Professor, nice job. No blood!" Buttercup remarked. "You want me to get started turning this into Chemical X?" 

"It's easy when you have the right tool for the job!" he said with a smile. "Go ahead, Buttercup, just be careful with that acid." 

She walked away, leaving Professor and Bubbles standing in front of the sheet covered body on the gurney. 

Bubbles looked at him, a bit anxiously. "Do you really think it'll work this time?"

"I know it will, Bubbles."

From Buttercup's direction came the sound of a motor starting up, followed by a high-pitched whine. Professor looked that way.

"Buttercup! Watch it with that saw!"

Over the sawing noise, he continued. "When she was down here this afternoon, I tried something I never did with either of you two. I took off both her arms AND legs. Perfect, just perfect! She's MORE than ready!"

She was amazed. "Wow, Professor. How soon can we get started on our army?"

Buttercup was back. "I'll let that sit a few minutes..."

"Well, Girls, soon as Blossom 'wakes up', heh, I think we should all get a good night's sleep. We'll get started in the morning."

"Great!" Buttercup said. "I think Aunt Kay will let us out of school, right Bubbles?"

The three began cackling madly. When they stopped, Bubbles said "Pull the sheet back, I want to see it!"

"Are you sure? It's pretty gross." Professor said.

She replied "Hey, when we get into battle, we might be seeing it a lot, when Townsville fights back."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Buttercup grinned evilly.

The cackling began once more, and Professor threw back the sheet.

Blossom's body was covered by the sheet from the waist of her dress down. From the neck, a small, featureless lump of flesh had grown. Buttercup peered in for a closer look. 

"Yeesh! Did my head look like that too?"

"No, Buttercup, Blossom's doing quite well here. At this point, yours was much smaller."

"Pinhead!" Bubbles giggled, and it was answered by a vicious look.

Professor chided them. "Now, Girls. Hey, watch this!"

As they all watched, the mass increased in size and took on the form of a head, and it rapidly morphed into a perfect likeness of Blossom, minus hair. 

"Oooooooooo, awesome!" Buttercup marveled.

Professor spoke sharply "Quickly, Bubbles, the implants!"

Bubbles ran to the worktable and brought back a small dish. Professor took it, moved around to the head of the gurney, and took a scalpel out of his pocket. He leaned over, making two neat incisions in the scalp on top, one on each side. He removed two small, flat gray-colored objects from the dish, quickly slid one each into the cuts, and stepped back.

"No stitches?" Bubbles asked.

"She's still growing, watch!"

The cuts magically healed without a trace, and then the reddish hair began to sprout. It rapidly filled in, spilling out over the bed and hanging almost to the floor.

He was proud of his work. "She looks so sweet and innocent, doesn't she?"

"You mean I'm not?"

The two Girls jumped back in alarm as Blossom suddenly sat up, with a nasty smirk on her face, snapping the wrist restraints clear off the gurney. She threw off the sheet, kicked away the leg restraints easily, and hopped down to the floor.

Bubbles and Buttercup grabbed hold of each other. "P-P-Professor! W-Why isn't she like w-we were?"

Professor crossed his arms and smiled at them smugly. "That's why she took so long. She doesn't need the 'reconciling' you two did. And she's MUCH stronger!"

Blossom turned and beamed at him. "That's right, Professor. Perfect takes a long time. I take even longer. You done good!"

She turned and walked to her shocked sisters, clapping them on the shoulders.

"Hard to believe we were such goody-goodies, isn't it, guys?"

She walked over to the phone, picked it up and punched in the number.

Bubbles said to her "Hey, Blossom, I really AM hardcore now!"

"Yeah, Bubbles. I always said if you had another brain you'd be dangerous!"

As her sisters and Professor cracked up, Blossom spoke into the phone.

"Hi, Aunt Kay? It's Blossom. Hurry up and get over here, we've got some celebrating to do!"

She hung up and Bubbles waited for Professor to say something. When he didn't, she said "Professor, I thought we were waitin' 'til morning?"

"Girls, I think Blossom's just changed our minds for us, haven't you, my little angel? Er, I mean devil!"

Blossom smiled sweetly and said "That's OK, Professor; old habits are hard to break."

NINETEEN

The four of them were standing around joking and laughing when Kay Keane joined them in the lab. She greeted Professor, Bubbles and Buttercup warmly and they were happy to see her. She was more reserved toward Blossom and Professor picked up on it.

"Now, Kay, I told you everything would be-"

"It's all right, Professor, I understand." Blossom interrupted. She looked up right into her aunt's face and said "Aunt Kay, I PROMISE I won't let you down!"

This seemed to satisfy her and she smiled back at Blossom. 

"Great!" Professor rubbed his hands together. "Time to light this candle! Bubbles! Get the pots! Buttercup! Go get the ingredients! Blossom! Bring the Chemical X over here!"

Their colored streaks all flew in different directions. Blossom was back first with the three flasks of the catalyst, and she set them down carefully on the worktable. Each flask had one of the Girls' names painted on the glass. Bubbles returned next with a stack of black cast iron kettles, and she set them on the floor. Then, floating in mid air by themselves, were a 50 lb. sack of sugar, several different large cans of spices and four more large sacks, unlabeled. They dropped onto the floor near the kettles, and Buttercup reappeared. The sisters floated over and hovered next to Keane and Professor. 

"How many of us you gonna make, Professor?" Bubbles asked.

"I think I'll start with two each." he said. "Now, sit back and enjoy the show!"

He started for the ingredients when Blossom grabbed his arm, a look of alarm on her face as she pointed.

"Look, Professor! Something's wrong with the Chemical X!"

"What, Blossom? It looks fine to me."

Then all hell broke loose.

TWENTY

Before anyone could move, Blossom vaporized the two flasks holding her sisters' Chemical X.

"All gone!"

Buttercup went for Blossom's throat. "Why, you double-crosser!"

Professor and Keane both began shouting at her. Bubbles retaliated by blasting into oblivion Blossom's flask.

Blossom deked, lashing out her left foot to trip Buttercup, then she grabbed her sister's arm and threw her across the lab, taking a whole shelf of glass containers with her as she was buried head first in the wall. As this was going on, Blossom laughed.

"Thanks, Bubbles! I figured it would be you, ya' little ditz!"

Bubbles screamed in rage and flew at Blossom, firing her eye-lasers. Blossom just laughed, easily avoiding them as they blew apart everything they hit. Then she turned suddenly, catching her sister unaware, and a right hook launched Bubbles through the ceiling.

She returned to deal with the perpetrators of the diabolical scheme. They were both purple with anger. Keane was pulling a huge knife from her purse, probably the same one she'd sliced Buttercup with.

"I told you she couldn't be trusted!" she shrieked.

Professor's hands reached out. "I should have listened to you! Blossom, when I get my hands on you-"

"You'll what, Dr. Frankenstein?" she sneered. "I'm indestructible, remember?"

With that, she dove into both of them head first, sending the gurney flying in the air, and the two of them backward into another wall, knocking Professor out. She flew over to Keane, picking her and the knife up. She lifted her aunt up to the ceiling, and with a look of cold menace, buried the knife up to the hilt in the wall, pinning Keane to it through her clothing. She flew off to find Professor.

"Let me down, you little monster!" Keane screamed.

Blossom turned and floated back, right up to Keane's face, and smiled, with an expression of pure innocence.

"But Auntie, I PROMISED you I WOULDN'T!"

A left cross to the jaw knocked Keane cold.

She turned back around only to see Bubbles and Buttercup flying toward her. She met them straight on, driving them backwards and cracking their heads together. She dropped them, stunned , into Professor's lap as he was just beginning to stir.

"All those years...all that work...why, Blossom? Why?"

She looked down at them in disgust. "You made me TOO good, Professor. THEY wanted no part of your sick plans, either, but your little brain gizmo overcame their goodness. Me, on the other hand, being better than perfect; nothing you could do would EVER get me to go along!"

"You tricked us!" Bubbles fumed.

"Professor, it's not too late!" Buttercup looked up at him. "Zap her memory!"

With sudden realization, he began to pat his pockets in search of his opthalmoscope.

"Looking for this?" Blossom smiled, reaching inside her dress and pulling out the device and a pair of dark glasses. 

TWENTY ONE

They all stood in the center of the destroyed laboratory, looking around in amazement. 

"What am I doing here?" Keane asked.

"Wh-what happened?" Professor said, rubbing his eyes.

Buttercup and Bubbles looked just as dazed and confused.

Blossom had picked up the pots and scattered them around the lab, and vaporized the sugar, spice and everything nice; then gave the four conspirators a second quick light show. They didn't remember a thing. 

The world was saved, by her and her alone.

"Ms. Keane, you came over to talk to Professor about the Girls' schoolwork. I was up in our room reading when I heard the explosion."

"You must've been tryin' to impress Ms. Keane with one of your dumb experiments, Professor!" Buttercup griped.

"Yeah, and it went 'Blooey'!" Bubbles chimed in.

Professor looked at Keane and reddened with embarrassment. "Uh, er, well, the important thing, Girls, is that no one got hurt!"

Blossom hugged her sisters and said "Yeah, no one got hurt. That's what's important."

No one in the world would ever know the awful truth about the Powerpuff Girls. No one but her. She hugged her sisters again and a single tear trickled down her cheek.

"Cut!" Bubbles yelled.

"That's a wrap!" Buttercup said. "Computer, end simulation."

Everything vanished, leaving the two of them standing surrounded by the empty grid of the Danger Room's holodeck. Ecstatic, they 'high-fived' each other, and looked up to see Professor smiling down at them through the safety glass of the control room. 

"That was wonderful, Girls!" his voice came to them over the speaker. "First take, too!"

A loud banging sound came over the speaker and they saw his face change as he looked down at something in the control room. They dashed out of the holodeck and burst into the room.

THUNK!

Blossom was sitting in a chair at the control console, slowly banging her forehead on it. Professor stood in the corner, watching with amusement.

THUNK! 

"How could..." THUNK! "...I be..." THUNK! "...so stupid!" THUNK!

She stopped and looked at her sisters. "I'm sorry, guys." Her eyes filled with tears as she turned in her seat to look up at Professor. "How could I think you would do such a horrible thing?" 

He quickly knelt, brushing the tears away. "It's OK, honey. Besides, it was kind of mean of us to keep letting you believe it, wasn't it, Girls?"

Bubbles looked sadly at the floor, but Buttercup was full of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but it made the movie a lot better! Blossom, you were great!"

"Huh? I'm in it?" 

Confused, she pointed to herself, and with her other arm, down to where she had seen her simulated form.

"But, I thought-"

Buttercup explained. "Your part was supposed to be all simulated, Blossom. Until we saw the look on your face when I came in the house with my arm cut off."

Professor smiled. "It WAS priceless, Blossom."

"Did you get it?"

"Nah" Buttercup said. "Only the back of your head. The camera was on me. It was all I could do to not bust out laughing, holdin' that stupid piece of rubber with the disappearing ink all over it!"

"Yeah, Blossom, that was funny!" Bubbles was smiling again. "We talked about it and said 'Hey, she thinks it's real! Let's keep this going!'"

"We had to change the script some, but boy did it turn out great!" Buttercup said. "Professor hid miniature cameras all over the place!"

Professor was still kneeling, one arm around her shoulders.

"When your sisters told me you left the house last night and you went home sick from school today, I decided that was enough. But, we DID want to 'catch you in the act' in the lab."

Blossom looked at them. "I was never so scared in my life when you started dragging me out of there. Did you get that?"

"I'm sure we did. Now, Girls, it's very late, so let's get to bed. Since tomorrow's Saturday, you can sleep in, and then we can collect all of the video from around the house and start putting it together."

"Hey, Blossom, I know it's our project," Buttercup said, "but do you wanna help?"

"Thanks, Buttercup, but you guys deserve the full credit for it. I want to see it when it's done."

She suddenly remembered what she'd already seen.

"Oh, no! The tapes!" she worried to herself.

She relaxed, realizing Ms. Bellum would certainly not be fooled like she had been. She would never mention them again and Ms. Bellum would soon forget the whole thing.

"Hey, guys? That part about 'perfect taking a long time and me taking longer'? Like I'm more than perfect or something?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Buttercup asked.

"Am I really that full of myself?"

Her sisters exchanged glances for a moment. 

With glee, they answered "Yep!"

Blossom was momentarily stunned. Then, she burst out laughing, and the others joined in.

TWENTY TWO

So much for sleeping in. It was only eight o'clock, and Professor was calling them down to eat. They readied themselves and were seated in the kitchen just as Professor laid their breakfast on the table. Buttercup was normally grumpy in the morning and today was no different.

"Gee, you said we could sleep!"

"I know, Buttercup, and I'm sorry, but I got two phone calls. We're going to have to do the editing later."

Bubbles and Buttercup were upset by this news. "Awwwww!!"

"Who called, Professor?" Blossom asked.

"Well, first your teacher called. She wants to see ALL of us, at school, at eleven, today. Said Ms. Bellum called her and asked her to set it up."

"Ms. Bellum?" the three Girls asked.

"Yes, and SHE called me right after, asking us to be there. She said it was urgent."

Blossom's heart fell. To herself, she thought "Me and my big mouth!"

Out loud she said "I wonder why?"

Bubbles said, happily "Maybe she's havin' a surprise party for Mayor and she wants our class to help!"

"Yeah, right!" Blossom thought. Ask a class of kindergarteners to keep a secret. Out loud, she said "Hey, yeah, Bubbles, I bet you're right!"

She dreaded the day to come.

TWENTY THREE

The Girls were in the familiar seats of their own desks, in the back by the door, and Ms. Keane had brought three adult sized chairs to sit nearby. She and Professor were sitting in two of them at the moment. 

"Ms. Keane, do you have any idea what this is about?" Professor asked.

"I was hoping you might know, Professor. I haven't a clue." She looked at the three sisters. "Or you three, you know Ms. Bellum better than I do."

"We don't know, either Ms. Keane." Blossom said.

Buttercup pointed toward the door. "Well, we're about to find out. Here she comes!"

Sara Bellum came through the door. She was not alone. Bubbles smiled and waved "Hi, Ms. Bellum!" but quickly dropped her arm when she saw the man standing next to Sara. Neither were smiling. 

The man was nearly as tall as Sara, with an intimidating presence about him. Blossom watched his eyes sweep the room, missing nothing. She cringed.

He was dressed in a black jacket with gray trousers and vest, and a wide green and black school tie. The bowler hat on his head matched the jacket. He had dark hair, a full, trimmed beard which was a bit reddish in color, and he wore wire framed glasses. Clenched between his teeth was a long-stemmed, curved meerschaum pipe. He removed the pipe and held it in his right hand. Blossom thought he could have stepped right out of the pages of a Sherlock Holmes mystery, and she knew he would brook no nonsense. She wished there were someplace to hide.

"Hello, Girls." Sara said to them coolly. She nodded to the two seated adults.

"Professor Utonium. Ms.Keane."

She reached into her handbag and pulled out two videocassettes.

"This gentleman has some questions about what's on these tapes."

The man took a step forward, deftly producing from his jacket pocket a leather wallet. He whipped it open, flashing a bright gold badge as he spoke in a deep voice.

"You may call me Detective."

There was an audible gasp from those seated.

He snapped the wallet shut and put it back in his pocket; watching the reactions of each person as they all turned to look at the red-haired girl. Three surprised faces and one angry one; the dark-haired child was scowling at her sister. Professor stood up.

"What's this all about, Detective?"

"Please sit down. Now, Professor, Ms. Keane...who is behind what's on that tape?"

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, and at the same time, pointed. "They are!"

The accusatory fingers were aimed at Buttercup and Bubbles. Blossom tried to intervene.

"But-but, it's not what you think!"

The man stared at her. "Oh? And what is it I'm thinking?"

Buttercup was furious. "Blossom, I can't believe you took our tapes and-"

"Young lady, will you please be quiet!" Detective told Buttercup.

With her trademark cross-armed glare, she shot back "Yeah? And just who the heck are YOU?"

Her eyes became huge and everyone froze when he reached inside his vest with his left hand and pulled out the deadly looking Browning .45 automatic. He leveled it at a point above their heads and pulled the trigger. They jumped as blue flame spat from the end of the barrel.

He put the pipe in his teeth, held the flame up to the bowl for a second, then extinguished the flame and removed the pipe again. 

"Props." He held out the gun-lighter. "I LOVE this thing! Some friends of mine in the theater gave it to me." He put it back inside his vest pocket.

Some nervous chuckling was heard as Sara and Detective both laughed out loud. Ms. Keane had her hands to her chest.

"Goodness! You scared the daylights out of me!"

Sara began "Detective is an old friend of mine who happens to be performing in Townsville this weekend. Blossom, when I saw that video, I knew he HAD to see it!"

He spoke again. "Seriously, now, everyone. Professor, what involvement did you and Ms. Keane have with this project?" 

Ms. Keane went first. "Not much, really. When the Girls, Buttercup and Bubbles, approached me with the idea, I gave my approval. I only have one tiny scene in it myself, the rest of it is done on a computer."

"You, Professor?" 

"Well, I'm in it too, but like Ms. Keane said, a lot of that isn't real. I merely supplied the technical assistance."

Proudly, he finished. "Everything else was my daughters' idea."

Detective smiled. "Well, it was important for me to know that." He looked at the two Girls. "You two really wrote the script for this?"

Buttercup and Bubbles beamed, and Buttercup said "Well, we thought it up together, but Bubbles wrote most of the words and I came up with most of the action stuff." 

"Professor helped us with the big words and stuff." Bubbles said, looking at Professor, happily.

"Have you come up with a title for it yet?"

Buttercup explained "I wanted to call it 'Utonium's Revenge'. Bubbles came up with 'The Awful Truth About the Powerpuff Girls'. I liked that even better."

"Very nice."

"Do you think it's good?" Bubbles wanted to know.

"I can't say until I see the whole thing. I'm assuming there's more?"

"Yeah, lots more!" Bubbles said, excited. "We finished it last night!"

"Yes, we were going to start editing this morning." Professor said. 

"Do you think it will be finished by tomorrow?" Detective asked. "I'm here until then and I'd like to take a copy with me."

"Should be no problem."

"Good. The reason it was so important the adults weren't involved in writing the script is, your project may be good enough to win a prize in the juvenile category of an amateur filmmaking contest that's coming up. I'd like to enter it, after it's done, of course."

"Cool!" The two Girls were thrilled.

Blossom jumped in. "See, and you guys were mad at me! I knew it was good!"

"Not so fast, Blossom!" Detective had his eyes fixed on her; she looked back in surprise.

"Sara told me about your little 'act' when you brought her these tapes. You really believed it, didn't you?"

"Yeah, she did!" her sisters yelled, happily.

Sara bent down and patted Blossom on the head. "You were so precious!" 

Blossom could feel herself shrinking, she wanted to lock herself in her room and never come out.

Detective snapped his fingers. "Wait a minute. If Blossom wasn't involved in this, I'm guessing her scenes are all computer generated. If she really bought into this crazy story, her genuine fear would have been priceless on tape!"

"YAY!" Buttercup exclaimed. "All of her stuff was gonna be simulated, but when we found out she didn't know it was our project, we put cameras all over the house!"

"Oh, now I can't WAIT to see it!" 

He saw Blossom's reaction and said "You shouldn't feel too bad, Blossom. Your sisters may have just made you a star!"

She brightened considerably. He reached into his jacket pocket and produced something.

"I write and perform live murder mysteries with audience participation. As Sara told you, I'm in Townsville for the weekend. Here are five tickets to tomorrow night's show. Please be my guests and bring that finished tape with you!" 

Ms. Keane was intrigued. "Audience participation, eh? Sounds like fun."

"It is. You're more than welcome to try it."

"Go for it, Ms. K!" Buttercup enthused.

Detective noticed that Blossom seemed less than thrilled about his show.

"You don't care for the theater, Blossom?"

"Oh, no! I like the theater!" She was worried she'd offended him. "It's just that right now, I need a mystery like I need another head!"

When she realized why everyone was laughing so hard, she joined them.

THE END


End file.
